MERP Fans, we call for your support one final time. A last concerted effort to raise awareness and combat the C&D sent by Warner Bros.

We are planning a concentrated letter campaign to show WB just how many people care, so we have written up a legally-informed letter that everyone who cares can print out, write out by hand or email to Warner Brothers and pressure them into at least picking up negotiations with us.
Bear in mind that a hand-written letter is worth a thousand emails. They are not simply ignorable, at least someone has to open the envelope and read the first line, rather than blocking the subject.

Our Letter:

MM/DD/YYYY

Dear Warner Bros,

This letter is in reference to the C&D (Cease and Desist) that was sent to the MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying Project) modification for Skyrim by Warner Bros (WB) Entertainment.

In case you are unaware what MERP is, MERP is a non-profit, total conversion modification of Bethesda Softworks' single-player PC game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, created by fans of Tolkien's works. It was a project that was set to create Middle Earth, from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, in an open-world Roleplaying aspect. MERP has been around since The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and just recently moved its resources to the Skyrim engine. It was a massive undertaking that was years in the making, worked on by dozens of individuals over the years.

I am writing to say that I am very displeased that WB has chosen to shut down this great project. For such a project that seeks no economic gain of any kind, with years of people's lives poured into it, to be given a C&D seems incredibly unfair. This is a project that in no way seeks competition with Warner Bros Entertainment's game department, nor their rights to make games based off of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I believe it is also fair use, as the amount of copyrighted material in relation to original content that was supposed to appear in the mod would have been minimal. MERP is a project that only seeks to create an immersive RPG game experience for Tolkien fans; the game was created as a transformative work under Fair Use laws in the United States, and as the court ruled in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp, "fair use is a lawful use of copyright."

The MERP team has posted that they have asked WB to discuss this matter and work out a way for the project to go forward with continued development. While they haven't discussed with the public the state of any such discussions, since the project has not continued development, it seems clear that they feel they cannot do so because of the C&D letter, which causes a chilling effect to all fans who want to create transformative works. Even though MERP can and should be able to go forward with the project, the demand by WB makes it impossible for them to do so.

I would like to hope that if WB (along with the Tolkien Estate and Saul Zaentz Company) are not willing to rescind the C&D, they should at least give the MERP parameters that would allow them to feel comfortable to go forward with the project that they are legally entitled to move forward with under Fair Use, and if that is not possible, perhaps they are willing to grant a limited license to the MERP to use the names, characters, etc from Tolkien's mythos. They are a talented group of individuals that take Tolkien's works very seriously and would not make a work in mockery to the author.

I do hope that whoever is reading this will pass this up to Warner Brothers Entertainment's legal department. I refuse to buy any products licensed by WB until either the C&D is lifted or you at least consider making a fair deal with the MERP team.

- [Your name goes here]

By all means change the final paragraph to indicate your standing on the situation. If you feel that you'll only consider non-LotR products, then change it.
And a list of addresses... the more you can send to, the better.

Please share any other addresses you come across and we'll update this post.
A final note: PLEASE keep this in good taste, we do not want to offend anyone so do not add anything malicious that would give them a definitive reason to stamp us out for good.

Thank-you for your support through all this, we understand how frustrating it is not knowing what's going on. There are backup plans should this fall through that you'll hear about in good time should the day arise.

It still confuses me why big companies like WB see the need to order a cease and desist on small non profit projects like this. Its not like they lose money in any way, in fact it promotes their products if nothing else. It just seems childish for them to do this.

They do it simply because they know their LOTR games are crap, and they don't want anyone getting the idea that they can do it better. Lockdown the market, and no one will have anything to compare their games too. Also, there might be a slight chance that a LOTR RPG game similar to MERP is in the works. Though I doubt it will be even close to the potential MERP has.

While I agree with you 100% on the C&D is childish, you are incorrect about them not losing money. The MERP petition has 30,000+ signatures, if 30,000 people were to download and play this awesome mod that is potentially 30,000 people who won't buy a new LOTR game for $60 that WB comes out with, because they got a mod that is superior to their game for free. They are eliminating the competition.
And while I support MERP, WB is not feeling the pain from the 30,000 people who have signed the petition and pledged to not buy any WB products, The Hobbit broke sales records for LOTR franchise and the sequels are expected to do even better. WB is just full of greedy bastards.

Guys, think about this: None of these anti-WB comments are helping the guys at MERP, and all of us, convince WB that allowing MERP to be created is actually a good thing.

The point of this is: NO, WB doesn't want to lose money because of a massively popular mod for Skyrim and they don't want their IP devalued or defaced by a mod that could potentially be bad. But OUR point here (We The Gamers, who want MERP to be created) is that they would NOT lose money, because this would do nothing but fire people up for a REAL LOTR game, one whose developer has the pressure and knowledge of an existing LOTR mod that people may/may not love in a game engine that they DO love.

Not only would this make people crave a full-fledged and official LOTR game, the amount of respect that WB would gain from allowing a community of people who ABSOLUTELY LOVE the LOTR IP to create their own little homage, would be unparalleled, ESPECIALLY considering that they are fully within their rights to not allow MERP to happen at all.

Furthermore, if MERP is created, the community is going to be ecstatic about it, but ALSO extremely nit-picky, detail-oriented and highly vocal about what they(read:We) consider successful about the MERP team's interpretation of Middle Earth lore.

What does that mean and why should WB or a future LOTR IP game developer care?

***It means that they would have unequaled insight into exactly what their very own fans want to see in a game and could use that knowledge to create a game that We the Gamers DON'T think sucks, that We would actually get excited about, and would thereby result in ************* SALES and PROFIT for WB/developer/everyone ever.

If we want MERP to happen, THAT is the rhetoric and information that needs to be spread. It is a love for LOTR that birthed the idea and effort of MERP. It should be through the love of LOTR that we reach out to WB and ask for their reconsideration, not an imagined hate because they protected their intellectual property.

I don't think Bethesda is getting into this one. Way too hot for them or any games company. WB is ofcourse a big player with lots of money (and thus power). If this is not going to work MERP will either have to move underground to continue development or just stop altogether (which is understandably the most likely thing to happen). So this really is an all or nothing situation.

Sadly no. Bethesda don't want anything to do with it, and specifically say that the modding tools are not allowed to be used to infringe on legal properties. If we alerted them then chances are they would just tell us to stop too.

Letter bombing would only count if you put explosives in the letter, which we don't advise.
This is a completely proven way of campaigning, though I guess you could say the whole business of this is 'in bad taste' mostly on WB's behalf.

Yeah, I figured as much. They probably won't like it, but it will at least show the scale of the crowd backing the team to them in a direct way. If only there was a Bywater post office we could snow under :)

Is it possible, that if Warner Bros. Refuses, that this mod could be still made, but changing the names of copyrighted stuff, but then put in an easy way for each person to change the names back to the right ones?

well if i would be the creator of some Lotr themed mod and gotten so far like you guys i would ignore any CnD since they do not own all ideas or things created under the Lotr name as FREE use. But meh... greedy corps rule the world not people with good intentions and free projects like any modders around here.

I think such behaviour, while unfair and stupid, serves as a warning light
for us all. Let us therefore cut their profits, however little. Perhaps our growing discontent may persuade them that being a **** towards potential customers is not a good marketing strategy.

Does it have to be the Middle Earth project? Have you guys already written tons of quests and content that is uniquely Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth like?

Wouldn't a project "inspired" by Middle Earth be completely legal? The heightmap can't be copyrighted I think..

What's the point of limiting yourself to an already established universe, when you could make a project that is "inspired" by it and whatever else, which allows you to 'borrow' the best elements, ditch the bad ones, and be completely free to invent your own rules?

The map can be copyrighted, since its a recognisable image.
Also 'inspired by' is a legal formality and would need to be decided in court, same with 'fair use' which we are fully. We just can't afford to take it to court to resolve.

Just had a revelation! WB owns all things to do with the Lord of the Rings. They own the names, locations, concepts and designs. So merely change the name of them mod and they can't do anything! But we will know the truth whilst slashing down orcs!

I support you guys ! For me WB just want to preserve their actual and future projects on LOTR License... Just with the pictures you were posting on MOddb, you are proving that you have made a better work as they do in ten years of "professionnal" gaming development...
I'm living in France, do i have to send a letter to Warner Bros France ? I may send them some french letters... They may say: Oh my god, it´s an international problem... :p

So what Ive really wanted to know is that have you still been working on this in spite of what has been happening? I mean like I do realise that i would have been a waste of time if you continued to work on it and didn't even get to release it. But if this does blow over well, would we be able to expect some kind've alpha/beta release?